


Nibel Years

by AshleyReyland



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-01
Updated: 2016-08-01
Packaged: 2018-07-28 14:29:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7644613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AshleyReyland/pseuds/AshleyReyland
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cloud stumbles across Vincent as a child, which leads to Vincent wondering why he's allowing this to happen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nibel Years

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CandlesInTheSnow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CandlesInTheSnow/gifts).



> Tbh, I could probably keep this going for a long time. I really struggled with a stopping point. Maybe with more time I could have done a multichaper thing, but life got crazy like right after I signed up for this. I'm considering adding chapters to this later. Anyway, I hope you like it!

There were a lot of words that were used to describe Cloud and none of them were very flattering. Most certainly, ‘brave’ had never made it on to that list. Stupid, foolish, and reckless came to mind, but never brave.

It wasn’t brave for a boy of his age to be wandering into the forest; it was foolish.

It wasn’t brave for him to climb the mountain up to the reactor; it was reckless.

So really, it should have set off a bunch of warning bells in his head when some of the neighborhood boys approached him and asked him to come hang out with them in the ShinRa mansion.

But warning bells didn’t go off because Cloud thought for a moment that maybe, just maybe they could finally be friends and they wouldn’t be so mean to him anymore.  
Those hopes were viciously thrown out the window when Cloud crossed the threshold of the ShinRa mansion, only to have the door closed and blocked behind him.

“Let me out!” He screamed for probably the hundredth time, pounding against the door. The boys had long since left. He had heard their laughter as they parted and it made his chest ache and he hated himself for being so…

_Stupid._

He pursed his lips, pushing against the door one last time before turning and looking around the room behind him. There wasn’t anything that seemed overly scary about the place. It was old and dusty from disuse, and there were plenty of horror stories about the place, but nothing had tried to eat him or steal his soul yet so he figured that the stories were rather exaggerated.

He chewed his lip in thought. Maybe there was a backdoor or a window he could crawl out of. He searched the house and came up with nothing useful. The windows had been boarded over and the backdoor wouldn’t open any more than the front one would. Had the kids already blocked that one, knowing that they were going to lock Cloud in there? It was possible.

Giving up in his attempts to escape, knowing that his mother would come looking for him eventually, he wandered his way into what appeared to be a library.

  
Where there was an open secret door…?

Cloud tilted his head ever so slightly, heading for the stairs against his better judgement. This was probably less safe than getting close to a pack of Nibel wolves, but if Cloud _was_  one thing, it was curious. So he cautiously made his way down the stairs, not so sure they were stable enough to hold even his meager weight. He paused once he stepped down onto dirt in what appeared to be a cave of some sort. Did anyone else know this was down here? Surely not. He would have heard rumors about this long before now if they had.

  
He allowed himself a small smile. He knew something the rest of the town didn’t. Ha!

With a new surge of confidence, he wandered into the cave slowly, looking around for anything of interest. He felt a little silly, wandering by himself in the dark, looking for things that probably weren’t even there. But why have this down here if there wasn’t anything in it?

He almost didn’t see it, too distracted by his own thoughts of what could possibly be hidden down here (treasure? Family heirlooms? _Dragons_?), but there, on his left, was a very nondescript door. He headed toward it, pausing as he reached for the handle.

What if there was a monster of some kind inside?

Well, surely a wooden door wouldn’t be able to hold it in, would it? He nodded to himself, pleased with his conclusion, and opened the door.

Of all the things he could have possibly found in the room, a coffin had never even made the list. He froze eyes slightly wide as he stared. What if there was a body in there? Was this some sort of family tomb? Was there nothing but coffins down here? What a terrifying thought.

“I’m sorry,” he blurted, before realizing that there was no one there to apologize to. Well, except for the possible person in the coffin, but he doubted his apology would mean much to them anyway.

He had just been about to leave when he heard a creak coming from the coffin. He went perfectly still, not even sure that he was breathing as he stared. Surely he hadn’t heard that. It must have been the house settling or something. Coffins didn’t make noises.

Another creak.

Maybe the boys had come back to let him out and were upstairs looking for him. Yeah, that had to be it.

The top of the coffin lifted.

Cloud screamed.

______________

Vincent had been asleep for a long time.

How long, he wasn’t sure, but the ache that went bone deep assured him that it had been long. At first, he wasn’t even sure what had woken him. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary (from what he could tell from inside his coffin). No one had bothered the mansion in years.

If Veld was back again, Vincent was going to tell him where he could shove his gun.

He shifted a little, intending to get comfortable and go back to sleep when he heard it again.

_“Let me out!”_

A child? No, certainly he was hearing things. Maybe the child was in town and just extremely loud. That would make far more sense. The yelling stopped shortly after and Vincent had nearly put it out of his mind and fallen back to sleep when he heard a door open.

His door.

Now that was just ridiculous. The sounds must have been echoing strangely. There was no way that a child-

_“I’m sorry.”_

No, no there was definitely a child in his room. Apparently apologizing to him. Vincent’s brow furrowed a bit. What could he possibly be apologizing for? Intending to find out, the man reached up and lifted the lid to the coffin.

The child screamed.

In retrospect, someone climbing out of a coffin in a dark, secret underground tunnel of an abandoned building probably was pretty terrifying. Especially for someone who looked like they couldn’t have been more than seven years old.

How did one even interact with children anyway?

“It’s alright,” he rasped out, wincing a bit. His voice was totally shot and probably didn’t make him seem any less terrifying. The fact that the child was still screaming assured him of it, “I’m not going to hurt you.”

He slowly, carefully removed himself from the coffin. His limbs didn’t want to obey what he wanted of them, but he made do and hoped he didn’t look totally stupid doing it.  
  
The screaming had stopped and Vincent looked at the child who was still frozen by the door, possibly too afraid to move.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he repeated, swallowing in an attempt to get some moisture back in his throat, “What are you doing here?”

“I-“ it was soft, scared, as he tried to scramble to come up with the words to explain. Vincent waited patiently. He had been asleep for possibly decades at this point; he could wait for a scared child to be coherent.

“I was locked in.”

Well, that was not at all what Vincent was expecting. But that would explain the yelling he had heard earlier.

“What’s your name?” Vincent moved toward the child, intending to get him _away_  from this place. It was not fit for the innocent.

“…Cloud,” he murmured, taking a step away from Vincent.

“Cloud… I’m Vincent. Let’s see if we can’t get you out of here, alright?”

Cloud tilted his head ever so slightly, looking at Vincent, seeming to come to some sort of a conclusion because Vincent could see the tension leave his shoulders.  
  
“Thank you,” he murmured before looking back up at Vincent, “Do you live here?”

_In a manner of speaking._

“That is a long, complicated story-“ Vincent started, but Cloud seemed to have gained confidence now that he wasn’t scared that Vincent was… well, Vincent wasn’t sure _what_  Cloud had thought it was going to do it him, but clearly he had found it terrifying.

“I have time. I’m a good listener. You know. If you want.”

Vincent gave pause and actually _looked_  at the child. He was small, from age or from neglect he wasn’t entirely sure anymore. His bright blue eyes stared at him with such a _hunger_  for attention that Vincent was faintly worried about what he was sending the child back to. He had been locked in here, possibly by the other children in the village…

The child was _lonely_  and was looking to _Vincent_  to keep him company. Just how lonely did you have to be to find him enjoyable company.

“That is not a story for someone so young.”

Cloud visibly deflated, but nodded in acceptance. Vincent could see him shutting down, what little bit he had thought it was alright to share was shrinking back into him before his eyes.

It was heartbreaking and Vincent wasn’t sure why he cared, but he found himself speaking, “But I used to work for ShinRa.”

Cloud’s head jerked back up to him in surprise. Surprise that he worked for ShinRa? That he had answered Cloud’s question? He wasn’t sure, but he herded the child back to the stairs. He really shouldn’t be in here.

“I want to be a SOLIDER,” Cloud announced as he started climbing the stairs, Vincent a step behind him.

“Really?” He wasn’t actually interested, but if the child kept moving, then he’d humor him for now. His inner Turk was already mentally running stats on the boy, and he doubted that he’d ever make it in unless he hit a growth spurt when he hit puberty. He was too small, too thin, and certainly didn’t have the mental capacity for it. At least, not as he was.  
But Vincent was well aware of how much a few years could change people.

Cloud nodded, all determination as they stepped back into the library, “I’m going to be strong and protect the people I care about. Like General Sephiroth.”

_General Sephiroth._

Years pressed down on Vincent at those words. It had definitely been a long time that he had been asleep. Apparently Hojo’s insane experiments had worked.

And Vincent thought he was having nightmares before. He shook himself from the past, making his was toward the front door. He didn’t offer Cloud any words, not having any good ones to offer. So instead he tried to open the door only to find that it wouldn’t.

“It’s locked.”

Yes, he sees that, thank you Cloud. Though he doubted ‘locked’ was the correct term. Probably blocked or barricaded somehow.

“There’s a back-“

“It’s locked too,” Cloud cut in, crossing his arms. Clearly he didn’t take well to Vincent thinking that he couldn’t figure out how to open a door.  
Vincent gave a faint shrug in what could have been apology or could have been apathy. He doubted that Cloud would be able to tell anyway.

“Well, we’ll figure something out.”

“Ma will come find me,” Cloud murmured, looking toward the door, “She always does.”

Oh so the child did have a parent. Good. That made Vincent feel less bad about wanting to make him leave the house.

“I can get you out.”

Cloud gave him a skeptical look and Vincent went back to the front door, pushing it with more strength than any human had a right to have. The door slowly parted and Vincent stopped once there was enough room for Cloud to slip out. He looked back at the child, fully intending to tell him to do just that when he saw that he was staring at him in awe.

“What?”

“That was so… _cool_! You’re so strong, Vincent!”

Vincent blinked in surprise. He wasn’t sure that anyone had ever looked at him with such… adoration? Fear? Yes. Respect? On occasion. Adoration? No, that was a new one for him.

“Get home. Your mother is probably worried.”

The reminder of his mother snapped Cloud out of his star struck state and he nodded, moving to slip out of the gap, “Goodbye Vincent, and thank you!”

With that the blond was gone and Vincent relaxed, heading back to his coffin to get back to sleep.

_______________

The sleep didn’t last long. Someone was knocking on his coffin. And he had an inkling as to who it would be.

“Cloud,” he murmured, once he moved the lid aside to see that it was indeed the young blond. The child in question gave him a blinding smile.

“Good morning Vincent! I brought you something.”

Vincent blinked and sat up, wondering what Cloud could possibly have brought him. He was surprised when a small basket of muffins was shoved in his face.

“Tada! Ma and I made them to say thank you for helping me.”

Vincent blinked again, taking the basket before looking at Cloud. He was clearly proud of himself, which caused the faintest of smiles to ghost Vincent’s lips.

“Thank you,” the former Turk murmured, taking one out of the basket. Cloud seemed to watch with bated breath as Vincent bit into the surprisingly good muffin.

“It’s very good,” Vincent offered once he had swallowed, watching as Cloud seemed to light up, “What is it?”

“Old family recipe,” Cloud replied leaving Vincent to think that the child wasn’t entirely sure what went in them. But they really were good. Good enough that he finished off the first one in less than a minute and looked at the others, debating if he wanted to eat or save them.

He looked back at Cloud, “You didn’t get locked in again, did you?”

Cloud shook his head, “No, they don’t know I’m here.”

They. Such a vague term, but Vincent shrugged it off, “And no one knows I’m here?”

“Except Ma, but she won’t tell anyone.”

Vincent wasn’t sure how true that was or wasn’t, but he let it go. Damage was done at this point anyway. He tucked the basket of muffins into the coffin and looked up at Cloud, who was still standing there, just staring at him.

“…What?”

“I-“ He hesitated, “…nothing.”

“Cloud.”

“Can I… stay here… a while…?”

Vincent frowned, but he had already come to the conclusion that Cloud craved companionship, hadn’t he?

“…I suppose. Though I am not good company.”

“That’s alright!” Cloud grinned up at him, full of such hope that it caused a slight pain in Vincent’s chest, “We can just talk. It’ll be fun!”

Vincent was fairly certain that he was going to live to regret this decision.

_____________

It had become routine, somehow. Vincent could almost set a watch by Cloud’s arrival and departure. He always timed both so that no one else would notice him coming and going from the mansion. And every day, he’d bring Vincent some new baked good that was somehow amazing.

He wanted to meet Cloud’s mother just so that he could get her recipes. They were fantastic.

Cloud would prattle on and on about his adventures in the woods or up the mountain to the reactor. Sometimes he’d talk about stories his mother had told him or things that he saw the neighborhood boys doing.

It occurred to Vincent, some months later, that Cloud had become his friend. And he, apparently, Cloud’s.

He wondered how long it would last. How long before the boy started growing up and chasing after girls instead of talking to old sinners in secret, underground basements.

“Hey, Vincent?”

Vincent looked up at Cloud, pulled out of his thoughts and away from the freshly baked loaf of bread that he had been eating. His tone had changed, there was a look of worry there.

“What is it?”

Cloud chewed his lip, seeming to waver in his thoughts before turning those bright blue eyes back to Vincent, “When I go to Midgar to join SOLDIER… would you come with me?”

The bread turned to ash in his mouth. Back to Midgar, back to ShinRa…

“I can’t,” Vincent finally forced out and watched Cloud crumple before him. The child had opened up so much and seemed to come to life and now all of that had been shattered, with two words, “I… don’t work for them anymore. It was… well, I burned some bridges.”

More like the bridges burned _him_  but Cloud didn’t need to know that.

“…Oh,” the blond murmured, picking at his own piece of bread, appetite gone.

“…But I can help train you,” Vincent regretted the words the second they left his mouth. That was a terrible idea, but he didn’t like the thought of Midgar ripping the kid apart either.

“Really?” Cloud perked right back up, looking at Vincent.

“Yes, really. I’ll teach you what I know. It’ll-“ Vincent cut himself off, giving a grunt of surprise as Cloud all but launched himself at him to hug him.

“Thank you!”

Vincent smiled.


End file.
